Friday, April 5th 2024, 9:31 pm
The top-ranked Oklahoma softball team opened its Big 12 series at No. 5/4 Texas with a 5-2 win in Austin on Friday evening, extending its winning streak to 17 games while improving to 35-1 on the season.
Oklahoma (35-1, 13-0 Big 12) saw graduate left-hander Kelly Maxwell strike out 10 batters and limit Texas (29-6, 9-4 Big 12) to just three hits. The Sooners improved their Big 12 lead to 4.0 games over the now third-place Longhorns, guaranteeing sole possession of first place following the weekend with a 3.0-game lead over second-place Oklahoma State.
Maxwell spun a complete-game gem to earn her 11th win of 2024, striking out 10 across 7.0 innings of two-run ball. The left-hander scattered three hits and three walks, allowing both her runs in the seventh inning.
Cydney Sanders (0-for-1, 2 BB) led off the second with a walk, opening a two-run Sooner frame. Kinzie Hansen (1-for-3, R) singled to right, putting runners on the corners, before being called out on a runner-left-early challenge for the inning's first out. Rylie Boone (2-for-3, 2 R, SB) legged out an infield single then Jayda Coleman (2-for-4, R, HR, 4 RBI) laced a go-ahead single into left. Alyssa Brito (1-for-3, RBI, SF) added a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Sooners.
Maxwell continued to carve through Texas' lineup, posting zeroes in the third and fourth before Coleman launched a monster three-run home run to right in the fifth. OU's starter added scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth before UT threatened in the seventh.
Coleman and Boone each provided two-hit efforts to lead the Sooner lineup as the former extended her on-base streak to 23 games.
OU returns to action on Saturday evening for game two of the series in Austin at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN as well as airing on 1560 AM/103.3 FM The Franchise 2 and 107.7 FM The Franchise.
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